Anyways, on to cookies. I got up at 7:45 p.m. tonight from my couch and said to my dad, "Guess what?". "What, Katherine?". "I'm going to go make cookies!". "Ohhh, awesome. Go do it!". I love when my family members want me to make food. My mom came home and got super annoyed because she's like on a diet or whatever but we can ignore that.
These are really good. If you've never used vanilla bean before (it was my first time, too!), it's really easy and so delicious. Everyone's so used to vanilla in their cookies that we don't realize how delicious of a spice it is. I also love the speckled effect. I used a vanilla bean in the cookie dough and then just used vanilla bean paste in the glaze because I like it better and had it on hand, but you can also just follow the recipe. Also enjoy this lovely picture of my brother gnawing on one of my cookies approximately 5 seconds after I said they were done.
Vanilla Bean-Iced Cookies
Cookies:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean*
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3 cups flour
Icing:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 5 – 6 Tbsp. milk
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean*
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
*I used vanilla bean in the cookie dough, but I also used 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract. In the glaze I substituted both the vanilla bean and the vanilla extract for 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste.
Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract and the vanilla bean and mix well. Add the baking powder and salt. Add the flour in three additions and beat until the dough comes together.
Form balls of about 1½ Tbsp. of dough and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes, or until puffy and set, but not browned. Let cool on a wire rack while preparing the glaze.
Make the icing: Add all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine. Add more milk if you want a thinner glaze or more powdered sugar if you want a thicker glaze. You may either pour the glaze onto the cookies, use a spoon and spoon the glaze on (only if you made it thick), or you can carefully use an icing bag to top the cookies. I poured on the glaze but it was somewhat difficult, and I would suggest using an icing bag (carefully, make sure you don’t have it over the ground when you cut off the end, it will be goopy). Allow the icing to set before serving.